Syracuse, NY - 1:15 p.m.: Three Syracuse police officers and one juvenile witness testified after this morning's break in the trial of a 16-year-old homicide suspect, who had a birthday this week.

The suspect turned 16 on July 21. His case will still proceed in Onondaga County Family Court, due to his age at arrest.

Syracuse Police Det. Fred Lamberton took the stand shortly before 11 a.m. and testified about a search warrant he executed at the 16-year-old's home.

He recovered a red fleece with a gray, hooded sweatshirt tucked into the sleeves in a pile of clothes on the floor next to the 16-year-old's bed, Lamberton testifed. The next witness called to the stand, an evidence technician, testified that she photographed the clothing, collected it as evidence and brought it back to the station.

Next, a detective who obtained a statement from the 16-year-old took the stand.

According to the statement, the 16-year-old told Det. Jacqueline Phinney he was near the Los Amigos market when the 51-year-old man was attacked. However, Phinney said that the 16-year-old gave her the name of another witness and a co-defendant in the case and pegged them as the two culprits.

The 16-year-old said in his statement that he heard the 13-year-old defendant tell a group of teenagers outside of the store that he wanted to play the "knockout" game. The 13-year-old then proceeded by punching the victim once, according to the statement.

The 16-year-old then said in his statement that another boy asked him if he wanted to "finish up," but he declined and left the scene.

The 16-year-old has been charged with making an apparent false statement to police in relation to the incident. He is accused of punching Michael Daniels and kicking Daniels in the face as he fell to the ground.

The 16-year-old has maintained his innocence from the beginning, said his attorney, Jimmy Meggesto.

The final witness called to the stand today was a juvenile witness to the incident. The Post-Standard was allowed in the courtroom on the condition that neither the respondents, nor any other juvenile witnesses, be named through information gathered in the courtroom.

The juvenile witness said he walked to the Los Amigos market with a friend the night of May 23 because he wanted "some snacks." He said he purchased a honey bun and some chips, which he ate in the store. He said he exited the store and saw the 13-year-old respondent, the 16-year-old respondent and "two or more" other teenagers he didn't know. The witness testified that he saw the younger boy punch a man in the face once, with little to no effect.

Asked to describe the victim, he said, "a old white man," who was "tall" and a "little fat."

The witness testified that he saw the victim get on his phone after the first punch. He said he figured the man was calling police. Then, he testified that he saw the 16-year-old punch the man once. Asked to place an "x" on a photograph of the scene of the crime where he saw Daniels go down, he placed an "x" near a fire hydrant in front of the market.

He said he saw the man fall to his knees and that he began to run, and didn't look back.

The trial has ended for the day and will resume tomorrow morning.

10:30 a.m. Family Court Judge Michael Hanuszczak has called a break after the first witness's testimony so as to not "piece-meal" the trial of a 16-year-old homicide suspect, he said.

The County Attorney's Office apologized to the court for the delay after calling its first witness, and explained that a second, civilian witness, was missing.

"We were in contact with this person as recently as last night," County Attorney Kathleen Dougherty told the judge.

But when her office sent transportation to pick up the witness for court, the witness was nowhere to be found, she said.

The next witness the prosecution planned to call was present, but a piece of evidence needed to go along with the testimony was being transported to court from a warehouse, Dougherty said. The piece of evidence is a red sweatshirt the prosecution contends the 16-year-old was wearing the night of the attack on 51-year-old Michael Daniels.

Several witnesses to the incident have referred to a boy in a red, hooded sweatshirt, when recalling the event in previous court appearances.

The County Attorney's office is still looking for the civilian witness, but told Hanuszczak they would prepare to call witnesses "out of order" if the civilian isn't found before this break's end.

10 a.m. Syracuse patrol officer Emily Quinones, the first officer on the scene of the May 23 homicide of Michael Daniels, was the first witness called to the stand in today's trial of a 16-year-old suspect.

Quinones testified in Onondaga County Family Court that she was driving in the area of West Brighton Avenue and Cannon Streets when she was flagged down by a man attending to another man who was on the ground, unresponsive, and with a "substantial amount of blood" pooling around the left side of his face.

Michael Daniels

The man who flagged her down was Joseph Brown, who lives above the Los Amigos Market on the corner of West Brighton and Cannon. The unresponsive man was 51-year-old Michael Daniels, who died a day later at Upstate University Hospital.

Quinones said she called an ambulance and learned later that Daniels had fallen into a coma due to his injuries. Defense attorney Jimmy Meggesto asked Quinones on cross-examination how close Daniels' head had been to a fire hydrant on the street when she found him. She testified that his head had been very close, "a few inches."

The next witness is expected to take the stand in a few minutes. The 16-year-old respondent is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the case. He is accused of punching Daniels one or more times and kicking him in the face as he fell to the ground.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article listed the juvenile respondent on trial as being 15. He had his 16th birthday Sunday.